The U.S. Pat. No. 2,715,314 issued Aug. 16, 1955 to B. Smith described a mooring device in combination with a floating wharf useful for receiving boats in or near an oil drilling rig in coastal waters. The mooring device is attached to the side of a drilling rig. If the level of the water in relationship to the drilling rig varies very much, the floating wharf would strike the drilling rig structure. When the level of the water dropped along a shoreline, the floating dock could strike the bottom of the water area. These problems are alleviated by my invention.
Also if the shoreline is rocky and slopping the floating wharf shown in this patent might not remain stable, but could strike on the rocky ledge as the water level recedes from the shore. The structure shown and described in the Smith patent is only suitable for application to a special condition as described in the disclosure and does not show the features disclosed in my invention.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,599 issued Mar. 4, 1969 to Lezak is another example of a mooring device. It consists of two bendable boom members mounted in spaced relationship on a stationary dock. The mooring device extends from the dock. The mooring device has means to attach the said booms to the bow and stearn of a boat. The booms are movable in a vertical and lateral direction either by manual or electrical operation at the dock side. The difficulty with this mooring device is that the structure is such that with changing tides and water levels constant adjusting is necessary. The mooring device does not adjust itself with changing water levels. This problem is alleviated by my invention.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,195,498 issued July 20, 1965 to R. A. Johns describes another type of boat mooring with means to secure a boat to a dock. This patent shows a boat mooring attached to a dock by means of a flexible tube which bends away from the dock. The tube is flexible due to a spring assembly in the tube. This mooring device is also limited in its application and does not teach the structure or function of my invention.